Memory Lost dnuoF yromeM
by Pathetic Otologist
Summary: When Axel wakes up in the hospital, he has no memory of the events that got him there; or, indeed, who he is. With the help of a band of friends, he sets out to find out who he is, who he belongs to, and why the hell he has tattoos on his FACE. AxR & more
1. Looking and Craving

_**A/N:**_ Welcome to the first story published by Pathetic Otologist~ This started out as a little drabble and morphed into a pretty amusing and entertaining story. So I thought I should let it out before it killed me with fire and pissy Roxas.

**WARNING: **It's rated 'M' for a reason... that reason being later chapters, terrets syndrome, and rather un-kid-friendly topics. And the Yaoi. But I'm a firm beleiver that Yaoi should be a class taught from 5th grade on. ^A^

**Disclaimer:** If I owned anything but the plot, there would be obvious shounen-ai, Yaoi and other un-G-rated things in the game... which there aren't... Damn you, Squeenix...

* * *

**Like vines, we intertwine....**

Eyes cast over the space; searching for like pairs. A brother, a cousin, a mother, a father.... _someone._ But he was alone here; no color to hint at, no memory of a face, no whisper of likeness among them. They were gone? Had they forgotten him, as he had forgotten them-or, perhaps, they resented him for forgetting them? Hated him for not being there for something... something he couldn't remember; perhaps they left because HE left... But how could that be when he'd had no _choice_?

Lanky fingers pawed at the ratty bag they had given him- no, it was **his** bag, he reminded himself; they had told him that. Pale digits worked open the belted fixes, reaching in as his lean form settled on the concrete divide between the huge span of racing water behind him and the road in front, the Hospital's open doors standing imposingly across; slowly working to bring forth the aged, battered wallet. It was forged from leather that had been handled too much, slightly stiff from being wet. No address; only a card with his name- or what they had assumed was his name. Axel Hideki.

Nothing else on the card; only the name in its almost-black crimson hue. No munny, either. He remembered Munny; the need for it to do almost anything in this place... Traverse Town. But nobody here knew him here- they had checked. And neither had anyone for the next three towns in any direction claimed him.

Brows furrowed in concentration as he tried to work his way back... back... to before the hospital room.... before the flash of recalled memory of the cold, freezing, welcoming crush of almost-frozen water... Pain. Pain seared its way into his mind, consuming it for a moment before he forced his thoughts to work FORWARD again.

What had _HAPPENED_ to him? He knew what they had told him- what they knew; He had been found in the third district of Traverse Town's Nocturne River, he'd been in a coma for a week in the hospital; he'd been in the news for a few days, they had searched for his family, relatives, lovers.... anyone. They knew his name; but it seemed that was all they could find from him. It was almost as though he had merely APPEARED in the raging, volatile waters of the half-frozen river. The worn leather bag that had been found a few feet from him only had a few little things; a journal, washed clean and wrinkled from the river's raging tides, a small key chain- two circular, spiked objects, The wallet with his name, and... Axel's fingers dug back into the back of the bag, fumbling about for a moment before quickly pulling out the small trinket. Tugging it out, he stared at it with questioning eyes.

If not for the odd color and the clearly Crystal shine about it, it could have passed off as a beautifully crafted marble. But... The color called to something deep inside Axel's sore mind, causing another spike of pain to erupt as he tried to pry further into it. Cursing under his breath, He leaned back against the low wall, one pale, long hand coming up to carefully touch at the skin of his temple- vivid red spikes lay haphazardly across the purple bruise there; the product of the river's angry tides slamming him into a rock, the doctor had said.

Where was he supposed to go now? The question surfaced yet again as his hand dropped to his side once more, a slight downward tug pulling at his thin lips.

The people at the hospital had said he couldn't stay there anymore- the hospital had granted him a week there after he had woken in the beginning, in the hopes that he would recover his memory. His nurse had been kind, at least- If a little insane. Rikku, a fiery blond with the strangest shade of aqua eyes Axel could think of, had an affinity with explosions and claimed the only reason she was in her line of work was to pay for her hobby of building rockets and other things with high likelihood of explosions. Rikku had been the one who explained the situation to him when he had first woken up, not knowing who he was but realizing he was in a hospital, he felt cold, and his head felt like splitting open.

Rikku had been the one to convince the hospital to allow reporters from _The Traverse Tabs_- the local paper- to come in and cover the story in hopes that someone would be able to claim him as thier own. She had gone far beyond the call of real nursing duty, and had become Axel's only friend in this new, unfamiliar, and unforgiving world where he seemed to be only a visitor, never a resident. But even Rikku couldn't stop the hospital's ruling to send him out after his third week with them. She had even helped him search for somewhere to go.

But in the end, here he stood, in front of the hospital, his head throbbing gently, with nowhere to go and a desperate craving for _something _tugging at his mind, making it hard to think of something else.

With a low growl, he pushed from the wall, turning his back to the hospital as he started walking north- Rikku had said to follow the river this way, to the upper levels of Second District. She wanted him to go to some little cafe and wait until she got off her shift, and had promised to help him find a place to go. He grimaced as his head throbbed gently as he pulled the name of the shop from his mind once more. _Crescendo_. To Axel, it sounded like something preppy; maybe a little place with jazz music playing 24/7. But, he would go. Because Rikku was all he knew for right now in this new world.

* * *

Sora Kidayu was normally a very easy-going person; He prided himself on his ability to remain happy and cheerfully worry-free in almost any situation. Almost being the key word in this particular case.

So when Riku Tiderio stepped into the small, warm shelter of _Crescendo_ to find the boy flitting about like a madman, muttering to himself, and cleaning in little bursts an already spotless counter; it caused him pause. Indeed, the boy- normally jittery and smiling when his old school mate appeared- didn't even notice him enter the building.

"Sora? Are you-" Riku didn't have a chance of finishing his statement, Sora wheeled about and let loose a huge, welcoming smile that stopped him dead, right next to the condiment table. But, at seeing it was only Riku, the boy let go of the smile and sighed, turning to continue fluttering about the small cafe.

"Oh, Riku, it's just you. Do me a favor and wipe down the condiment table." Sora ordered flightily, before swooping in beside his friend to do it himself. Riku's brow quirked- It was not every day when one saw Sora Kidayu flitting about nervously, and something about it simply did not sit right with Riku.

"Sor', what's going on?" Sora peered over at him, slowing down his motions as he smiled nervously.

"Well, Rikku called- she's sent someone over here to hang out for a while... You know that boy from the paper? The article that Demyx showed us?" Riku nodded, slowly, eyes trained on Sora even as the brunet turned his face back to the cleaning. "Well, the hospital had to release him- he's okay now, but he still can't remember who he is or anything, so she wants us to help him out."

Riku frowned at the thought of the hospital kicking out someone who didn't know who they were- he would be terrified. Then again, it worried him a bit more that they would be sheltering someone they didn't know, but Riku forced that thought from his mind. Silently, Riku reached out and patted Sora on the shoulder. The smaller boy visibly relaxed just a slight amount. "Sora, I'm sure we can help him. He'll be better before you know it."

Sora smiled at his friend, his eyes following up to the taller boy's face, framed by silvery hair. "I know, but what if he doesn't like me?" Sora's concern showed true on the matter- his eyes nearly brimming with unhappy tears at the thought. Riku frowned and scoffed.

"If he doesn't like you, he's not human." Sora smiled slightly, lips lifting slowly to form a little hint of it before breaking out completely as he reached out and hugged his best friend. Riku smiled down at the messy mop of brown tucked under his chin, his own arms coming to wind around the smaller frame and hug back. He silently swore to slaughter the new man if he proved to be troublesome for Sora.

It was one of the rare days when there were only a handful of customers to deal with in the bar; the normal patrons, as well, so it wasn't even that difficult. So when the phone rang, Demyx tried to force back the huge yawn threatening to escape as he lifted the old-style receiver to his ear. "Hello, this is the _Crimson Rhapsody_, I'm Demyx, and how can I help you today?" He rattled off his prepared bit, a small grin flying to his face as he found he had remembered not to answer the phone with a 'yo, this is Demyx!'

"Hey, little brother." At Rikku's voice, Demyx sighed in relief, letting the huge yawn escape and trail off after a moment. There was a chuckle on the other end, and Demyx grinned proudly to himself for no real reason at all.

"So what can I do ya for, Sis?" Demyx asked; the grin still in place as his sister began rattling off a tale about explosions, a burnt kitchen, a boyfriend on the run, and a boy who needed a place to stay. "So; you burnt down the kitchen again, then?" Demyx ventured to guess, still not quite able to keep up with his sister's hundred-mile-mouth, even after twenty-two years. There was a long-suffering sigh from the other end that made Demyx roll his eyes and grin.

"No; the explosive chemicals in the POT burned down the kitchen, I was an innocent bystander... But that's not why I called- didn't you LISTEN to what I said?" Rikku muttered to him, impatient, as apparently she was on her break- a quick glance at the burnt copper clock on the wall only served to confirm this theory. When Demyx didn't reply, his sister plowed on. "So I need to go and bribe Tidus to come back home and not stay on Zack's couch again- or Aerith might have my head, and I need you to give Axel a place to stay while we try and help him remember."

Oh, that's what she had been talking about, Demyx thought. His mind flitted to the paper he had thrown at Sora and Riku the other day; the front page story on the boy who'd been drawn out of the river. The picture that accompanied the story had made it seem like the boy was in much worse shape than Rikku had let on; his head had been wrapped, he had straps and wires and tubes all over him, and he looked pale as a corpse. Demyx shivered at the memory. "You mean nobody came to claim him?" Demyx asked, feeling a little nip of sorrow at his heart at the thought of the man being left on his own.

"Yes- we couldn't find any family or friends who knew him. Not even in Twilight Town- I even called Roxas and checked if anyone was missing. Nothing." Rikku's voice sounded tired and strained as she explained, and Demyx's face softened. The black door to his right clicked open; emitting a tall, dark-silver haired man who cast a questioning glance from his one visible eye.

Demyx shook his head, turning back to the phone, "Sure, Rikku, I'll let him camp out in the extra room. I just have to clean it up a bit." Zexion Tiderio rose a brow at his employee at the sound of Rikku's name- personal calls were to be made during break unless it was an emergency. Demyx held up one finger, telling Zexion to hold the rant as he listened to his sister's instructions, nodding and making small sounds of affirmation for a moment longer before hanging up the phone.

"Demyx, how many times must I remind you, personal calls-" Zexion started but Demyx shook his head.

"I know, I know- at my break. But the guy they pulled out of the river was released today, and since nobody's come to find him, he needed a place to stay; Rikku was just calling to make sure I was OK with it." Demyx cut in, explaining as Zexion's brows came down in concentration.

"No one came forward as a friend or family for the man?" Zexion asked quietly, frowning slightly. Demyx simply nodded in response, casting a glance over the warm colors of the bar; the crimson stage with its ruby curtains and the black tables, adorned with bloody red cloth and lit only by the low-light chandelier- It was a warm place, that was one certainty.

"He's gonna be staying with me for a while, so I might need to take a couple days off to show him around so he doesn't get lost; is that okay?" Demyx asked, his eyes trained on the bar top before him. His superior let out a low, suffered sigh, and suddenly there was a hand ruffling his mulleted head.

"Take three days; I'll get someone to cover the bar while you're away." Zexion didn't look at his employee, but he felt the wide smile spread and warm him moments before the hug came. He tolerated the contact until Demyx pried himself away, grinning at Zexion as the slightly shorter man turned his icy eyes to him. "Take off early, it's not that busy here, I can take care of it."

Zexion watched as the younger man pranced through the back door, already untying the black apron strings that hugged his hips as he danced away. A sigh escaped him once again- it had been that upbeat and open smile that had made Zexion hire the boy in the beginning, and it was the same one he could not bring himself to say 'No' to anymore.

Oh, how life's trickery abounds, the man thought as he turned to answer the now ringing phone. Perhaps he would close up early and drop in at _Crescendo_.

* * *

Axel had somehow managed to find himself standing in what seemed to be the most happy preppy-looking neighborhood he had ever seen- at least that he could remember, which wasn't saying much. And he was lost. Let's not forget that. Hopelessly, completely, and utterly lost.

He had followed Rikku's directions, but he must have turned down the wrong 'Alto Avenue' because he did not see a small shop anywhere; let alone one with a lime green sign welcoming customers to '_Crescendo.' _Obviously he had not been a city guide before his memory loss. Thinking that perhaps he had simply not gone far enough, Axel kept to the sidewalk, continuing down the street until he was confronted by a large apartment building.

A frown came to his face and he scowled at the grand, welcoming building; it was a nice place, sure, but the cul-de-sac that served as its drive shot down his theory of not having gone far enough. For a long moment, he thought seriously about sitting down right where he was on the sidewalk, passersby be damned; he thought about letting the helplessness of his situation wash over him. But some deep, primal part of him reeled and raged at the idea- give in to hopelessness, what was he, _a pansy?_ It seemed to cry.

The nagging craving at the back of his head was growing needy and demanding, making his skull pound with not only the angry _pansy_ voice, but with an entirely pissy _gimme_ voice. They seemed never-ending, and a scowl came to his face as he reeled to the wall beside himself; ivy climbing to the roof of the tall brick building. Resting his head against the cool leaves, he knocked his forehead gently but firmly, muttering curses as they came to him. "'Impossible to miss' she says, 'just follow Alto' she says... well I FOLLOWED Alto, didn't I?" Another curse wove out, alongside another rap against the wall.

The next rap was prevented by a startling occurrence- a hand grabbed his shoulder.

Axel didn't know how he did it, or why, or when, but he suddenly found himself with an armload of restrained and squirming _girl_. She was tiny; lucky to reach his shoulder in height and only with the aid of white sneakers with a bit of height to them, her thin wrist felt like a bir'd wing in his hand where it sat, brought up near her shoulder blades painfully by him. White-blonde hair swung over one shoulder and her voice held a light melody to it as she cried out _again_ for him to let go.

With wide eyes, Axel threw his hands away from her- into the air; holding himself as though she was pointing a gun at him. Stuttering with words, Axel managed a noise that was somewhere in the middle of a Platypus being strangled and a cat barking. The girl, rubbing the wrist Axel had held behind her back, turned very bright blue eyes on him quizzically. A moment passed between them as the girl seemed to hover between uncertainty and anger at him, her eyes flashing back ans forth from his own to his hands, still held in the air. After a slow internal debate that played out in different colors on her face, she smiled somewhat unsurely, raising her own hands slightly by her face in a calming gesture that had Axel lowering his own a bare few inches, still uncertain what was happening here.

"I'm sorry; I just wanted to know if you were lost..." Her voice still had the melodic ring to it, and Axel winced.

"I should be the one apologizing; I don't know why I did that..." He trailed off, realizing that maybe this girl could help him. He eyed her for a few moments, lowering his hands to shoulder-height and biting his thin, pale lips."But yeah, I AM lost... Do you know if there's a cafe anywhere on this street... It's called-"

"Oh, you're looking for _Crescendo_!" the girl cried, realization dawning on her face. "I should have guessed, everyone who wanders down here is looking for it, usually." Axel was still stiff, worried he would react too violently again, yet this girl seemed perfectly fine. "You passed it about a block and a half ago...."

"Oh..." Axel didn't move, not sure what to do; after all, he had basically ATTACKED this poor girl... "Uh... I'm sorry about your arm... are you sure you're alright?" Silence took over for another moment, a look of shock coming to the girl's face an instant before it broke out into a peaceful and serene smile that made Axel fall to ease.

"How about I show you to _Crescendo_?" Her sweet melody of a voice made Axel nod numbly, allowing his arm to be drawn from him, shifting his bag as it teetered, threatening to fall from his shoulder as the girl dragged him back the way he had come... back toward the River he had sprung from.

* * *

It was another twenty minutes after Riku arrived that Sora found he had nothing left to _do_ but sit and wait. Nervously twitching back and forth behind the counter, he began triple-checking the cafe express machines for the eighth time.

Riku sighed, exasperated, and rose from his seat at the cafe's bar in one of its comfortable barstools to leap over the counter in one fluid motion, dodging over the neatly stacked mugs to land right in front of Sora just as the smaller boy turned to check them again.

"Things will be _fine_, Sora." Riku soothed, his voice calm and sure while carrying its usual demand. Sora stilled, his worried eyes filling with a happy calm as he let out a shaky breath. Riku witheld the urge to run his fingers through Sora's hair to calm the boy further, chastising himself for wanting to make the other boy realize he was here for a _reason_, damn it, and that was **not** to help welcome some stranger into their lives.

Sora opened his mouth, ready to speak as Riku leaned slightly forward, his weight shifting as his hand went to reach for the smaller's,when the little bell over the door rang again, signaling the admittance of someone. Sora's eyes flew to the door, slowly followed by a begrudging Riku's, only to see a petete little blonde girl standing beside a somewhat disheveled looking man with flame for hair.

"Welcome to Crecendo!" Sora cried, a huge smile coming to his face. The girl smiled widely in return, offering a small wave and pushing the Red-head forward; the man himself looked a bit shocked and out of place, his clothing somewhat grimy and disheveled, the warped bag hanging over his shoulder doing nothing to help him look at ease. Sora, for his part, disreguarded this, bounding arond the counter to glow happily around the older man. Riku followed at a slower, more somber pace, a slight frown tugging the corners of his lips.

Sora lead the two visitors to the bar, settling them down in the stools as he danced about, chatting merrily and reaching over the counter for a menue, recommending drinks and muffins and shakes and teas to the two. After a few seconds, though, the red-head seemed to regain some semblance of himself and cleared his throat. "Uh... Not that I'm not happy you're welcoming me like this, but I-I don't have any munny to pay for anything...."

Riku paused, raising a brow as Sora froze, mid-chatter, his mouth still agape and the girl hid a small smile behind her hand. "Oh! Rikku didn't tell you she called ahead?" Sora interjected. A look of realization dawned over the Red-head's face and he smiled somewhat appoligetically, still eyeing Sora as though he expected to be jumped.

"I'm Namine, and this is Axel." The girl spoke up, easing away the tension that had been forming with the awkward moment with a smoothe motion and a laughed and Riku eased his muscles, unaware when he had tensed in the first place.

"I'm Sora, and that's Riku!" Sora chipped in warmly, his smile returning as Riku stepped forward to draw out another stool and place himself in it. "Rikku said to have you wait here until Demyx could come!" Sora chittered, bouncing around the counter and bringing out menues. "Since it's cold out, I figured I'd give you somthing hot to drink!"

Axel's hand went to his hair, tugging gently at it's spikey mass. "If you have anything that'll help a headache, it would be much appreciated, actually." He muttered. Riku raised a brow at the girl- Namine- who shrugged.

"Axel and I ran into one another when he got lost. Oh, Sora, a cup of warm tea sounds wonderful, please." she explained simply, saying the last in aside to Sora with a warm, serene smile to the boy. Riku eyed Axel for a moment as the other man fidgeted in his seat, eyes wandering around as everyone began to settle down finally. The man truly did seem like he had no idea what he was doing; if Riku's mind hadn't been conjuring up images of how he would feel in this situation, then he would have found it funny. Another half an hour passed in somewhat awkwart time, Namine and Sora chittering together, trying and failing to pass the conversation to a mono-syllabic Riku as Axel fished for a foothold.

It was revealed that Namine had been at RGU- the local university- for two years studdying fine arts and Ballet, and that she had run into Axel coming home from the school for the day and decided to help him. She found out why he had been lost and that he had no memory, and Sora seemed to be forming yet another friendship with the young, pretty girl.

"Who's Demyx?" Axel's voice, suddenly interjected into the conversation that had now turned to how Sora had come to work at the cafe, made everyone pause for a moment, eyeing the man carefully.

In that time, though, the bell over the door rang out yet again, and a stumbling, smiling Demyx spilled inside, throwing out hello's left and right before catching sight of Axel and grinning, barreling for the man who could only sit by helplessly and watch the mulleted man plow into him at full speed, an arm wrapping around his shoulders merrily as Demyx cried out in glee. "I found you!"

"That would be Demyx." Riku clarified a somewhat hopeful, somewhat terrified looking Axel, who seemed to deflate slightly yet smiled nonetheless.


	2. Heads and Tales

_**A/N:**_ I LIIIVE! -dodges any objects thrown at her- -is hit with a hate-bomb the size of texas- I'm so so so so so sorry I haven't been on here in forever and I didn't give you this as soon as I said I would, but I think I had good reasons... It took me a while to decide who I wanted to follow first here, so I hope we all enjoy (Myself included) I've been working on getting myself onto the lease for our apartment for a while now alongside applying for work (Need to feed my game addictions with SOMETHING, and being broke doesn't help much) so I thought I'd throw this out for everyone to enjoy and- hopefully- love. And thus we return to round TWO of our drama.

**WARNING: **If you don't like buttsecks, don't read. Terrets syndrome is a must here, and will be making many featured appearances; right alongside angst, drama, narcissism, Masochism, and much-possible music-bashing. includes the YAOI- for you kids reading this, you're doing yourself good... but it's probably not very OK with your 'rents; they might ground you... You have been warned.

**Disclaimer:** There was once a great struggle for the rights to a great power in the universe; on one side, a powerful and mighty warrior-author, on the other, the great corporation known as SQUEENIX. in the end, the great Author fell to the evil trickery of the Squeenix- known as... the COPYRIGHT! dun dun DUUUUUN. ...-cry-

* * *

**In the car, do you remember?**

Namine Rosaline was not as weak as she looked.

She prided herself on her knowledge of self-defense, judo, fencing, and her extensive experience in the study and affects of various types of household poisons; but what she practiced religiously was the act of being innocently happy. It was very rare for her to admit to fearing something, and yet she would openly admit to never, ever wanting to hear from her older half-brother.

Whenever Marluxia managed to drag himself to a phone and recall her phone number, it meant he had gotten himself into some form of trouble. Most recently, he had shown up unannounced on her doorstep, drunk and wavering. His speech had been heavily slurred and he had been wearing muddy and messy clothing that had taken forever to dry in her small dryer. But he had told her why he was drunk; and it _had_ been a better reason than so many times before. His most recent love interest- no the _love of his life_ (Marluxia's words, not Namine's own.)- had confessed to having fallen in love with someone else and broken off things.

So Namine was considerably tolerant of her half brother's situation, and allowed him to try and pull himself together on her couch.

For three weeks now, though, he had been lazing about, eating her food, making a mess, and rarely speaking except for random little bursts of his Drama-whore internal self coming out and whining and ranting. Needless to say, Namine was not a happy woman when she walked back into her apartment to see Marluxia _still _half-draped over her couch, _still_ half-nude, and **_still_** eating her food. So one should understand the events that followed.

Marluxia flew to the ground over the coffee table, landing with an '_OOF'_ on the other side of the room as Namine turned away from the over-the-shoulder throw to begin gathering the blankets strewn over her couch, stripping away the pillow cases and bringing the bed garments to her own room, dumping them unceremoniously into the white net hamper in the corner with a sigh before returning to the Living room to see her half-brother glaring up at her and sloppily trying to rise to his feet. "What was that for? I didn't do anything!" Marluxia's arguments were lost on Namine as her eyebrow twitched mildly, a leisurely smile spreading across her face as she stepped toward her messy coffee table; gathering the dishes and bags left over from junk food binges.

Marluxia had made it to his feet by this point, and was now leaning against the far wall in a disgruntled, half-there way as he eyed his sister up and down for a few moments. "Well, _you're_ in a mod." Unfortunately for dear Marluxia he had turned away to try and find his clothing and did not catch the stiffening of Namine's shoulders. His only clue that he had said the wrong thing- and that, indeed, she had _heard_ this wrong thing was the instant his left shoe made connection with his right temple, throwing him off balance and sending him careening into the wall with shock. He received another such hint when the aforementioned shoe's mate came out of nowhere and pommeled his nose, connecting with a sickened _crack_ and burst of blood; yes, that HAD broken something, he was pretty sure.

Stumbling blindly in pain, Marluxia backed himself into the wall once more, back pressed flush as his hand attempted to stem the flow of gushing blood appearing from his now broken nose. In the meantime, though, Namine had found his pants and shirt and had advanced on him. When the disoriented man's vision returned, his little half-sister stood before him, a sweet smile on her face that made his mind screech desperately for him to jump out the nearest window for escape. He had only a few seconds to register this before his black jeans and shirt made connection with his injured face, sending him into a howl of pain, clutching his nose and letting the clothing fall to his other hand.

Namine, still with her too-sweet smile in place turned and danced away from him, turning to pick up the remnants of a bag of chips and heading for her trash. "I don't care how heartbroken you are, if you don't pay me rent, you don't get to eat my food or make fun of me. Besides, you have to get back to Hollow Bastion, I'm _sure_ your boss is wondering why you haven't been to work in so long- that is, if he's still your boss."

Marluxia sighed, letting his hand drop from his face and slipping his pants on a moment before following her. Reaching over the low bar top that extended her kitchen and dining room in the small apartment, he tore a few paper towels free from the roll that sat beside the stove and pressed them to his still flowing nose. "I'm pretty sure I qualify as unemployed; you should be kinder to the out-of-work, Nami." he muttered sadly, a pout forming on his pale, bloody face.

Namine turned, crossing her arms and leaning back against the sink, eyes inspecting her half-brother.

Marluxia was pretty tall, with pale skin and abs to kill for that he had _never_ in his _life _had to work for and an ass to make most females jealous. Deep blue eyes that called some tint of turquoise at the edge of the iris complimented the heart-shaped, elegant face and long dulled pink hair in a very... **Marluxia** way. There was simply no other way to describe it. The man was pretty damn hot if she didn't take into account that he looked like he'd been hit by a truck after watching his puppy hang itself. "You look like shit that got laied by death and rolled over and had a baby."

Marluxia merely rolled his eyes at his sister's comment. He couldn't really expect that much from Namine in the way of kindness based on his own statement moments before and the past. They were always like this, the two of them. It wasn't like their family life had really been truly conducive to kindness between them, really. Their father had only had him as an accident with his mistress on the side when Luxord, Namine's elder brother, was one and had in fact not known of Marluxia's existence until Namine had been six, Luxord eight, and Marluxia seven. And even then, it had not been willingly that Marluxia had been taken in; his mother had merely shown up to Nami's birthday party, crashing all hell onto their Father's head and creating chaos when she left without him, saying he was his father's responsibility now. It had been a tense childhood, to say the least.

Namine sighed tacitly after a moment, her shoulders sagging as she eyed her brother wearily. "I know you're feeling like crap and everything, but you do need to stop moping around." Her voice had lost the scathing demeanor from before and for a moment, the siblings stared at one another placidly, each one thinking differing thoughts about the same thing.

Silently, Marluxia nodded, turning from his sibling's kitchen to grab up his small pack that lay in a heap near the same table he had been flying over moments before. "I'll catch the next train back to 'Bastion, Nam'...." His voice was controlled, somewhat drawn and quiet where he usually was teasing and sarcastic; Namine had a fleeting moment of worry- a moment where her maternal instinct screamed at her to make him lay back down and finally give a full explanation to her of _why_ he was like this. But she let the thought go; Marluxia was an intelligent man, even if he never showed it, and he would have realized that whatever ass of a man had done this to him wasn't worth the tears and time he had spent on the matter.

So, instead, Namine watched quietly as her half-brother gathered his things quietly, tucking a fresh set of clothing under his arm and heading to her bathroom to shower. Seeing his retreating shoulders set firm, Namine told herself that she was doing the right thing; making him move on.

* * *

Zexion wasn't easily amused by sights of 'lost' teens wavering their way into his bar; especially not the kind who thought their ten-munny fake ID's would get them alcohol on his dime. So it was somewhat easy to understand that when a familiar bunch of these aforementioned kids strutted their way into his bar, accompanied by somewhat smug-looking parents, that he was agitated.

They sat themselves on his bar stools and the parents- there were three of them to the four teens, three of whom each propped themselves in their own way that said 'haha I won'- each ordered two drinks. It was understandable, therefore, that Zexion ignored them and- after asking for ID, of course- only brought three drinks.

Though he was expecting what came next, the manner in wich it came both astounded and angered him. One of the parents- a female with Long dark hair who seemed to have a deep fetish with belts and who seemed to be either the mother or the twin of the one girl, short of her deep red hair, who looked slightly apprehensive and was sitting just a smidgen farther than necessary- grabbed his wrist in a tight hold and gave off a smile that she probably thought was meant to charm him into submission but in which he was just angered that much more. "I think you forgot our other drinks."

Zexion wasn't one for physical contact; Demyx was the only one who could truly hug him, and even that was because he wouldn't listen when told _no_ about the matter. Not even Zexion's brother would be allowed to get away from touching him without a stout glare and angry silence for the next few hours. So his reaction was, to a certain degree, explainable.

"I contain the right to serve whom I please in my establishment, madam." His tone was icy and his visible eye narrowed on the woman who hesitated just long enough for him to tug out of her grip. "And, it being illegal to supply minors with alcohol, I refuse to serve the drinks that will no doubt be passed off to them."

The woman huffed angrily and for a moment it seemed that the other people in the small group balked. The nervous twin-daughter of the woman seemed to pale slightly. "Do you know who I am?" She snapped, and Zexion had to sigh; No doubt this was going to get him nowhere.

"I don't know, and I don't really care if you're the governer of Destiny Islands here to give me a free vacation." he snapped, cutting her tirade short. "I'm a buisness owner, and I am exercising my right to withhold service. Now, if you have a problem with that; _there's_ the door." At the last, Zexion pointed ferociously, a frown marring his face as the party froze entirely for a moment. Slowly, the woman rose, a huff at her lips as she grabbed her daughter's arm and headed for the door, muttering lowly about 'Stupid little bar boys who don't know their place.' Shortly after, the rest of the small party left and Zexion stared at the three untouched _Oblivion's doorsteps_ that sat on his counter. A waste of perfectly good rum and cranberry juice. With a sigh, he downed one of them, turning to dump the other two down the bar's sink.

It was at this point his phone rang, and he found himself with an earful of Demyx's cheery voice.

Amazing how quickly his sour mood melted away, he mused as he listened to his employee's ranting. _Employee, _he stressed the title in his mind as Demyx came to a resounding halt and he realised he had been asked something. "I beg your pardon, Demyx, but what is it you want from me?"

There was a deep sigh from the other end a moment before the melodious voice rang through the line once more. _"I think this guy's got something wrong with him; he's got a migraine and he says it feels like it's eating away at his brain and we gave him some medicine, but it's not helping, and...."_

"Do you need my help?" Zexion cut off Demyx before the boy could panic anymore; because now that he was paying full attention, he could hear a slightly gravelly voice in the background, bemoaning his head, and a slight hint of desperation in Demyx's voice. He, however, forced the thought of the secondary aside, focusing instead on the matter at hand.

_"That would be LOVELY! Thank you Zexy!" _Zexion cringed at the nickname and sighed, muttering a farewell into the receiver before dropping it unceramoniously to the counter top. The bar was still mostly empty; only Vincent, one of the bar's original patron regulars, sat at one end of the bar.

"I take it your bar-boy's got a problem." Zexion nodded mutely at the other man's question and Vincent sighed, swigging down the rest of his _Nocturne's Revenge_ and standing, turning without another word for the door. Zexion thanked whatever higher power there was that Vincent was a rather understanding individual, as the man carried a rather large pistol on him at all times and could have a fit to knock all fits if needed- he should know, he had seen Vincent take down his fare share of drunk, angry patrons when refused another drink from Demyx to not need a warning against disturbing the man.

Zexion shook his head from the thoughts, going to the door and locking it, flipping the small 'closed' sign into place and heading for his coat. He doubted this was going to be a good night, but Demyx had been around for so long it was normal to get a call for help like this. No doubt he was just dramatizing matters.

* * *

Demyx's apartment was six blocks away from Crecendo. Axel had gathered this fact sometime during the half an hour period when Demyx led them in circles, lost but not admitting it. He somehow managed to follow the hyper blonde's words as he showed the memory-less man around; here was the laundry mat, here was the travel agency, there was the little tea shop with the very good ice cream flavors, and there- _no, over THERE-_ was the Liquor store that only bought one box of strawberry crumble ice cream sticks each month.

Axel found his head was slowly throbbing; the two tiny purple pills Sora had given him had dulled the gnawing ache at the back of his skull, but alas, it was returning now and it's teeth had gone from biting words to a mirthless scream. A part of him believed this was his punishment for something completely and utterly aweful he had done in a previous life; perhaps he had just been sucked up and pitched out by the river because he had fucked up so horribly, and to continue the punishment his head was now revolting against him?

Demyx's sudden halt made Axel ram into the blonde, one hand flying to his head as the sudden impact into the brick-pole of a male made him sway and caused the pain to groan angrily at him. The aforementioned pole-man looked at Axel worriedly for a few moments, reaching a hand out to steady him, but the world was beginning to get very angry and snappy, and the voice in the back of his head was screaming and ranting and raving for _SOMETHING_ and Axel didn't know what it was, so when Demyx's voice pierced into his mind questioningly, Axel couldn't help but bite back with a blunt retort of "Feels like someones holding a screaming match in the back of my skull..."

It took only a few moments of Axel concentrating on trying to figure out what it was the fucking voice was screaming for, and suddenly Axel found himself in a small flat with differing shades of blue and silver **everywhere** and Demyx guiding him to sit on the couch. The boy was fluttering about him nervously, and Axel found the voice was becoming more annoyed and chippy at the blonde's actions, snapping violently every time Demyx's hands fluttered to check the bruise on his temple.

In a desperate attempt to appease the angry thing-voice in his head, Axel blocked out Demyx's words and closed his eyes against the fluid, worried motions the man was making around him. Vaguely, Axel thought he heard Demyx's worried voice carrying half a conversation, he heard himself groan in pain as he rested his head heavily on his knees, gently rolling his forehead on them to keep moving the angle of his head. It helped slightly, but the Voice was still there, pissed off as ever and beginning to use language a Sailor would blush over.

Somewhere between something that sounded a lot like the voice was cursing his mother to have some horrid Sexual Disease and the same voice telling it's opinion of Axel's manhood- that being that it was so small doctors had to question his sex- the aforementioned redhead vaguely registered Demyx's voice holding a one-sided conversation that sounded remarkably like someone begging like a puppy. For a moment, even the voice paused in it's tirade, questioning the mulleted man's sanity, but it was soon made clear that Demyx was not, in fact, insane- unstable, maybe, but not insane- as the man let the receiver of the phone he was holding drop into it's cradle with a dulled 'click' before turning back to Axel with what could either be described as frightened or worried eyes. At that moment, though, all Axel could concentrate on was the fact that the voice had gotten over it's momentary lapse at Demyx's supposed insanity and was now gnawing at the black wall of pain that held him back from the time before the hospital, and all the while muttering something about platypi, chain saws, and a rather painful sounding experience that Axel would rather not have been hearing about.

Blinded by pain, Axel did not notice Demyx pawing gently through his bag until suddenly the other man let out a sound that sounded something like a child that had just been given candy- "OH SHINY!"

The giddy tone in Demyx's voice made Axel's head shoot up and his eyes pin to the blonde man, who's cerulean eyes were pinned to the tips of his fingers that were before him, curled gently around.... The blue marble. It was glittering gently in the small amount of afternoon light that made it's way into the cool apartment, shining as though it contained the sun and yet twinkling like a star. For a moment, Axel felt the voice dulled by the color and he thought maybe that was what it had been screaming for, but then it becan cursing once more, gnawing away. With a muffled groan, Axel watched the world fall onto it's side, the couch pushing into his cheek, before realising he was the one who had fallen over and closing his eyes as the voice raged on.

Axel could hear Demyx shifting around, worriedly asking if he shouldn't have touched the little stone and trying to question if Axel was alright before a knock at the door distracted him. For a moment, Axel thought somehow in his punishment some higher power had taken pity on him and was going to allow him to die in his own misery on the couch alone, but then there was a rather cold hand pushing at his temple- _prodding his bruise_. With a howl of actual pain, Axel leaped back from the hand and stared, wide-eyed at the dark, silvery man who sat on Demyx's coffee table before him, one brow rising over dark aqua eyes. "A bit jumpy, aren't you?"

For one blinding moment, Axel had an image occur to him- himself flying across the gap between the two of them and throttling the smaller man- but he pushed it aside after realizing that he would probably be hurt more in the incident and settled down onto the couch, allowing his hand to travel back to his eyes, where he shielded himself from what light managed to leak into the small apartment. "The bruise on his temple is probably causing most of his pain; I expect that whatever medication they had him on to control it would have worn off by now. All we can really do is let him try and sleep it off." The stranger's voice was a cold, somewhat uncaring voice and Axel felt a great urge to piss him off; if only to see him ruffled, but before he could work up the energy to do so, there was a whimpering, simpering whine from beside the couch and Demyx's melodic voice whimpered out "But I don't want him to have to be hurting! Don't you have anything, Zexy?"

Axel found himself suddenly wracked with laughter- Zexy? Well, at least the man's mother had a sense of humor! There was a scoff and Axel felt himself hauled up by the front of his shirt and staring directly into the one visible eye of the man before him- who was also, conveniently, lifting the aforementioned red-head's now limp torso off the couch. Who'd have thought the shrimp was strong, Axel mused distantly, taking the murderous look in from the one eye and preparing to die- at least he wouldn't have to give dramatic speeches about missing so-and-so now... "Zexion. My name is Zexion. Do you have a problem with that... _Axel?_" The voice that had seemed distantly uninterested now held a tone of malice that spoke volumes of what would happen if given anything but an affirmative answer.

With a slight whimper, the voice in the back of Axel's head sputtered to a terrifying halt and Axel managed a nod before Zex_ion_ dropped him back to the couch, flicking Demyx's forehead and storming over to the large sliding window across the room. With an angry tug, he pulled it open and slipped over the sill to the fire least the voice was quiet now; and his head didn't hurt quite as much... even if it was because he was numb with shock.

Demyx let out a nervous laugh when Axel's gaze traveled back to his own. "D-don't mind Zexy... He's kinda nice once he gets to know you..." Axel only nodded; not believing for a second that Zexion could possess the capability for niceness in him. But his little piss-fit had shut the gnawing voice up, so Axel supposed the small, cold man couldn't be all bad. Especially since five minutes later he came back inside and offered to stay the night in the tiny loft so Demyx wouldn't have to worry about something going wrong- an offer that seemed to make Demyx go from happy to over-the-moon settings in .2 seconds.


End file.
